Happy Independance Day! / 1,500 Followers / Bald Doll Saga · 6:06pm Jul 4th, 2013
First of all, I wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy Independence Day!
Also, I'm currently the 26th most-watched user on the site, with more than 1,500 followers!
I wanted to thank everyone who enjoys reading my stories and/or blog posts. Your feedback helps me stay focused on my love of writing. Anyone who enjoys my work is invited to become a member of the Bronystories Fan Club. The Fan Club is an outlet for smaller news bites and updates, since I prefer my blog posts to have more meat to them. Speaking of which...
...let's talk more about dolls.
I may have judged Hasbro too harshly. Apparently, they have two sizes of Equestria Girls dolls. The ones we've seen so far have been the smaller versions with tops that are painted onto the body, but there's also a series of larger, more expensive "deluxe" dolls, which are meant to more directly compete with Mattel's high end fashion dolls like Barbie and Monster High.
So, let's take a look at one of these "deluxe" Equestria Girls dolls.
Umm... well... I really like her mane? I'm sorry, but when I heard there were deluxe dolls, I was hoping for a dramatic increase in production quality. Do these deluxe dolls even have posable elbows? I can't tell with Rainbow Dash's stupid unattached sleeves. Maybe deluxe Fluttershy will give us an answer.
Fluttershy! Have some class! Not everyone wants to see your bajingo!
Well, I guess now we can confirm that the deluxe Equestria Girls dolls are not only more posable, but they are also very nude under their dresses. This is a huge win for bronies with Agalmatophilia.
In contrast, let's take a look at the dolls from Monster High's spin-off series, Ever After High.
(Sigh) I don't follow professional sports, but I imagine this is what it feels like to cheer for a team who never brings their "A" game to the playoffs. I want Hasbro to be successful because the popularity of the Equestria Girls dolls is good for the My Little Pony brand. That being said, I thinks it's obvious which company invested more time and effort into their doll line.
From a marketing standpoint, Ever After High is a stroke of genius. The creators have a treasure trove of royalty-free fables and fairy tales to pull from when designing characters and settings.
Heck, even Walt Disney knew the power of familiarity when he chose an established fairy tale for his first animated feature.
As depressing as it may be, familiar characters and settings will always be a popular source to draw from. It's a sad commentary on society. People would rather see classic fairy tales rehashed ad nauseum or watch the third reboot of Superman movies instead of trying something new.
Here's a graphic from a couple years ago, illustrating the creative decline of Hollywood.
I would dare say things have only gotten worse since then.
Now, some may be saying that it's hypocritical for a brony to cast stones at Hollywood or Ever After High, when Friendship is Magic is the fourth "reboot" of My Little Pony. 
And to that I say, fair enough. I'll be the first to admit that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic plays on brand loyalty. It's been one of Hasbro's best-selling girls toys for thirty years. It makes sense that Hasbro would slap the My Little Pony logo on their new line of girls dolls instead of trying something new.
No one in business wants to take risks nowadays and would rather go with the safest possible bet. Does that mean creative people should shun all past works and make something new for the sake of being new? Of course not. As long as fresh and interesting ideas can be added to an established concept, then the occasional retread is okay. Friendship is Magic certainly holds to the standard of an acceptable reboot. Even discounting the brony fandom, the fourth iteration of My Little Pony redefined what shows for little girls could be. Even though MLP:FIM took an existing IP, it added enough new elements to make it unique. Ever After High seems to do a similar thing. I think the rules of its universe are arbitrary and don't make a lick of sense, but you can tell that someone put genuine effort into making unique characters, instead of lazily slapping Snow White's name on a doll and calling it a day.
It will be interesting to see how Equestria Girls fares against Mattel's one-two punch of Monster High and Ever After High. Although, maybe Hasbro isn't Mattel's main concern...
After their victory in court against Mattel, Bratz are back and they have a new redesign.
That's right. The girls who loved Bratz have grown and the dolls have grown with them. The latest wave of Bratz dolls draws special attention to their increased height.
These new dolls appear to be the right size to wear the clothing of Monster High and Ever After High dolls. MGA seems to be pulling no punches in their battle with Mattel.
We've talked about the difference between a true investment and a halfhearted effort. This distinction can be seen not only in the comparison of Ever After High and Equestria Girls dolls, but also in the "Bald Doll Saga."
In January of 2012, cancer advocate Jane Bingham contacted Mattel about making a bald version of Barbie to support children with cancer. Mattel dismissed her idea and responded with the stock form letter saying that it does not accept toy idea submissions from consumers. Undeterred, Bingham launced the “Beautiful and Bald Barbie” movement on Facebook, which attracted widespread attention and accumulated more than 160,000 "likes." Soon after this, Mattel announced it would produce 10,000 limited-edition bald Barbie dolls to donate exclusively to U.S. children’s hospitals.
Bingham was pleased with Mattel's decision, even if she felt it didn't go far enough.
“They are only making 10,000 of these dolls, so only a very limited number of kids will even be able to get their hands on one,” Bingham said, “Each year, 12,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer, and no child without cancer will receive one. Plus, this limited quantity is bound to cause a high resale price. It’s basically going to be only a collector’s item.”
Meanwhile, MGA was carefully watching Mattel's actions.
“After hearing that Jane just received a form letter from Mattel, it gave us the green light to get involved,” MGA representative Susan Hale said. MGA approached Bingham to develop the “True Hope” collection. Under the banner, MGA released three bald Bratz dolls, with $1 of every doll sold going to support cancer research at the City of Hope organization.
Wigs are not included with the dolls, nor are they sold as separate accessories.
“We want to show that you don’t have to have hair to be beautiful,” Hale said.
The "True Hope" Bratz dolls debuted at Toys 'R' Us in June of 2012. While MGA have been careful to downplay their rivalry with Mattel when promoting their "True Hope" dolls, some comparisons are unavoidable.
“This isn’t a situation where Bratz beats Barbie. We would love to see all doll makers offer a bald version," Hale said.
Hmm... maybe Hasbro should also produce a line of bald dolls to promote cancer awareness. I'm sure My Little Pony is mature enough to handle a sensitive subject like cancer.
On second thought, maybe not.
It's becoming more apparent that MGA is a tactical genius when it comes to dolls.
MGA beat Mattel in court and are back to prove themselves again. Will Bratz be able to reclaim the popularity they had in 2005, or will Monster High keep Bratz out of the limelight? Mattel may soon have its market share undercut by MGA's own line of creepy dolls called Bratzillaz!
Is it a shameless ripoff of Monster High? Yes. This is MGA's payback for Mattel copying Bratz' style with the My Scene dolls. Revenge is a dish best served cold.
One thing that's pretty cool about Bratzillaz is their beachwear dolls. Their bodies glow in the dark, which is awesome.
It's a good thing MGA only specializes in human dolls. Could you imagine the heated rivalry Hasbro would have on its hands if there were a Bratz line of pony toys?
Oh my...
Don't worry, Fluttershy. I'll always love your bajingo best of all.
My only response: Lawl
Those Bratz Ponies....
Yikes. That's... Really all I can say about that.
Also, Happy 4th to you and congratz on the number 26 spot. (Honestly? I'm surprised you aren't top ten, I'd have expected top fifteen myself)
~Skeeter The Lurker
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Congrats on 1500 followers and 26th place....your humorous yet insightful blog posts always keep me entertained!
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Lel. DUBS GET!
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If you had exactly 1500 followers, I was going to unfollow you. now lie
"In January of 2012, cancer advocate Jane Bingham"
I first read that as in "an advocate for cancer".
I think everyone wants to, though.
EvenEspecially the little girls.Celestia has best bajingo
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Cancer treatment advocate.
Happy 'Murca Day, Bronystories!!
All I can input is; Welcome to the amazing and sad world of cut-your-own-mamma's-throat marketing, where megacorporations worship the almighty [money unit] and will do anything to increase their market share. The competition is ruthlessly attacked both in the market and in court with frivolous patent lawsuits designed to crush smaller entities into financial oblivion and drag the larger ones down.
Queen Chrysalis would love it, being in her element. The ponies? I suspect they would flee for Equestria as soon as the next gateway popped back up, "The hell with friendship, let's get outta here!"
Wow. When I saw the Bratz Pony images, it took my mind almost a minute to fully process that this is actually a thing.
I'm very curious to see how Hasbro will react/is reacting to this.
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Actually, the Bratz Ponyz
predatezpredates Friendship is Magic.During the legal battle with Mattel, MGA had to shelve their Bratz teen fashion dolls. Instead, they were forced to explore other avenues for toys, like Bratz Babyz, Bratz Ponyz and Bratz Wild Ocean Ponyz. (Shoo bi do! Shoo shoo bi do!)
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The toys had to be different enough from Bratz for Mattel to not include them in their lawsuits. Once it was decided that MGA legally-owned Bratz, the company was once again allowed to make new teen fashion dolls.
The Bratz Ponyz were just a means of generating legal funds for MGA to defend itself against Mattel.
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Huh, well how about that! That's quite interesting. Thanks, I always learn something new from these posts of yours. ^_^
I'm curious how well Brazt Ponyz sold. If they did more than okay I would expect MGA to have put in a new push when FiM caught on, but we don't see any evidence of that, at least in stores. Interesting...
0:08 - that red riding hood looks soooooo adorable~ <3 <3 <3
Hm, why´s there no red riding hood Twi clopfic...
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We've got the perfect image for the cover.
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Yeah, exactly! i wanted to upload that pic as possible cover on my comment but then thought it might be offensive to use a comic cover from the MLP comics for a clop fic. But red riding hood Twily looks sooooooooo adorable~
Though the three pairs of red eyes behind her suggestes nothing good for her, espically not in a clopfic.
Then again, who knows how such a story would unfold, right?
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Little Red Riding Hood is rich with sexual symbolism.
One theory is that Red Riding Hood’s red cloak actually signifies the fact that she has recently menstruated, and as such is no longer a little girl, but a woman ready to be initiated in life’s ways. She braves the dark forest of womanhood, unfortunately encountering first the predatory male (the wolf), who forcibly initiates her into the reality of sex … as symbolized by Red Riding Hood being eaten.
The red cloak is also sometimes thought to symbolize the girl’s hymen, with the wolf taking her virginity. The two interpretations are not mutually exclusive.
The way Little Red Riding Hood teaches children about gender roles has also been researched extensively. The mother of the tale, who tells Red Riding Hood not to stray from the path, represents a woman who knows her place within the patriarchal society. The fact that Little Red Riding Hood strays from the path, talks to a strange man (‘Don’t talk to strangers!’), and dawdles, against her mother’s instructions, and comes to harm, is a lesson to young girls to accept what society dictates they must do, or come to harm.
The tale has so many sexual markers and overtones … it has been recognized as a sexual tale for so many centuries, but people still enjoy reading it, and still tell it to their children, and still love to create modern interpretations of the tale, so they can relate more easily to it. Embrace its sexuality – it exists throughout it – and enjoy it!
If you wanted to make a Red Riding Hood clopfic featuring Twilight Sparkle, I'd be all for it. Send me a private message if you want to brainstorm.
The thing is though, we need a villain with more personality than a timberwolf to molest her...
How about the Big Bad Ahuizotl?
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"Oh, Grandma, what big balls you have!"
"The better to teabag you with, my dear!"
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Holy shit. I´ve read with six years a fairy tale about porn?
Yeah, my idea was also to get a villian with more character and that it shouldn´t be the Timberwolves. But i had the thought to turn the fairy tale´s hero, the hunter, into the villian of the clopfic. Maybe an OC or Blueblood or Big Mac or Thunderlane or Soarin though i think an OC would probably be the best solution for the fairy tale Hunter, a really heroic looking hunter who rapes little filles.
You see, he tamed those timberwolves and made a living with it "protecting" citizens and caravanes going through the forest. And sometimes he takes other stuff as payment than shiny bits. Like when he sees little red riding hood Twily who goes to visit her granny Celestia but doesn´t listen to mommy velvet´s warnings and goes to explore the forest.
So he tells his wolves the usual drill. You know they come out and look evil and snarl and howl and hunt Twily a bit and while she is scared out of her bits, he comes out and drives away the timberwolves (who will later get a tasty deer steak for their hard work, yeah the hunter hunts down forest animals to feed this timberwolves. I mean, with them he makes more money in a month "protecting" others than in two years in his real job. Plus he gets to be prasied as the "hero" though he´s responsible for the timerwolves being all dangerous to everyone going through the forest XD).
And ofc Twily is ever so thankful to him, but he goes all busninessman on her, knowing that she´s a filly who won´t say much to the adult who just saved her coat, and says she needs to pay for the protection. And then we get a small explanantion of how well known he is, Twily recognizes him immediatley cuase he´s a local hero, as well as an insight of his thoughts on how he planned all that aka what i wrote above.
Then ofc cause Twily has no money she offers some of the flowers she had picked. Daaaawwww~
He says no.
Then she asks if he wants soem of the wine and the cake. But not too much, cause its for ehr granny which she loves very much. Daaaaaaawwwww~
He says no.
Then she says she can´t give him the expensive medicine, cause its for her granny and she really needs it to get well again. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww~
He says he didn´t wanted it anyway.
Ofc Twily is confused she says she has nothign else to give. And here is where the hunter coaxes her into giving her virginity to him as payment. And Twily is ofc shocked, apalled, etc that the hero wants this and its wrong, but then he makes it look like she´s as fault cause she can´t pay him and that plently of mares had paid that way cause they were poor and he´s such a generous gentlestallion and he offers her the same solution. Anyway she agress to it and he takes her virginity, all of them oral, vaginal and anal.
Then he brings her to her grannys house making sure she won´t tell anybody and goes back to feed his timberwolves, impatient for the little red riding hood to go back home through the forest the next day.
Well, that was my thought about little red riding hood Twily as a clop fic. I dunno if i have the skill though to make that as sexy and "nooooo, that damn sneak bastard! And Twily agreed to it! Cause he dazzled her! That asshole! And i still have to respect that guy for being such a sneak smartass asshole son of a bitch for his timberwolves idea!" as i have it in my head.